31DC2016 - Geometric - Distressed Shapes

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Hi everyone! For Geometric day in the 31 Day Challenge I did some fun colors and used a pretty hehe plate for something that ended up looking sort of 90's. Let's check out today's mani!

Paint All the Nails Presents Neon

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Hi everyone! I'm a bit late to the party today, but I couldn't miss out on the link-up with my lovely friends from Paint All the Nails! I've already done two neon looks for our link-ups this year so far, but this time Neon was the theme!

Paint All the Nails Presents Marble

*Nothing to Disclose*

Hi everyone! Today the ladies of Paint All the Nails have a wonderful theme to work with: Marble! This theme is actually really diverse and can encompass many techniques and ideas to produce a marbled or marble-like look on the nails (we made sure to let everyone interpret the theme loosely, so we will likely see a variety of looks!). For my look today, however, I decided to use what has become the traditional marbling technique and often one of the most dreaded techniques in the nail world: the water marble.

Pretty Serious The Museum of Naileontology Collection Volume 3

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Hi everyone! I swear...my computer is giving me fits this week! Needless to say, I finally have some photos edited and more to come, so stay tuned! Today I have the 3rd installment from Pretty Serious Cosmetic's The Museum of Naileontology line. This line has polishes that were all inspired by vintage polishes that have all been long discontinued. This particular installment in the series was created especially for Halloween, so these polishes have a spooky feel. Despite being Halloween-centric in theme, I really think that at least the first two could be worn year-round. Let's take a closer look and see if you agree!

Pretty Serious Goth Pet Names Collection

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Hi everyone! Today I have Pretty Serious's Goth Pet Names Collection to share with you. This collection consists of 4 gorgeous cremes that were created with a spooky, Halloweenish theme but could be worn any time of the year! These are a tag on to Pretty Serious's original Pet Names collection which I blogged about last year that had fabulous creme formulas, and these are just as lovely! The Goth Pet Names Collection is availble for purchase now in the Pretty Serious shop.

Pretty Serious Post Apocalyptic Princess Collection + Ninja-Lish-ous

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Hi everyone! Today I have Pretty Serious Cosmetic's Post Apocalyptic Princess Collection to share with you as well as a limited edition shade called Ninja-Lish-ous. This is a gamer-inspired collection full of very futuristic shades/finishes. I'm not a gamer myself (unless you count Mario?) so I don't get all of the references, but hey...it's pretty polish and that IS what we care about, right? Don't worry...you guys will get to see me nerd out and spread gifs of joy in an upcoming post for a holiday collection that I TOTALLY get the references to, just give it a few weeks! These shades are all available now in the Pretty Serious shop.

Double Stamp All the Nails!

Hi everyone! Today Paint All the Nails is doing double stamping! I love double stamping and I'm often inspired by the double stamping looks that Deborah from Love Varnish is famous for doing because they are always so elegant! Today, I decided not to go for a traditional elegant double stamping look, but instead went for a Halloween spin.

For my mani, I started out with a base of China Glaze Lady and the Vamp (which has such a weird name because I'm imagining a vampy red) and then I put Sally Hansen Jack-O-Lantern over it for a little old school glittery goodness. Then I used the MoYou-London Festive plate 16 and Pretty Serious Presence to stamp on the spider webs. Next I stamped on some spiders from the same plate using Konad Black to stamp. It was a very cliche Halloween mani, but I really enjoyed it. I love the depth that double stamping adds to a manicure...you can almost make something that looks like a decal using the technique.

Pretty Serious Absence and Presence

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Hi everyone! Today I have two more Pretty Serious Cosmetics cremes to share with you, this time their black and white cremes. I'm sure that if you have been around the nail polish world for any length of time you know that the search for a "holy grail" black and white creme polish is a constant struggle. Pretty Serious set out on a mission to create the perfect black and white creme polishes so that we could all end our quest, so let's see how they did!

Pretty Serious The Well Meaning But Ultimately Quite Awkward Pet Names Collection

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Hi everyone! Today I have a collection of gorgeous cremes from Pretty Serious Cosmetics to show you that I'm very excited about! I've been doing so many fall/winter shades lately that these bright shades were welcomed with open arms. The Well Meaning But Ultimately Quite Awkward Pet Names Collection is a collection of 6 brightly colored cremes that I will totally be wearing year-round. And as the name of the collection suggests, these are all named super cutesy pet names that you would probably cringe if you were called. These are available now in the Pretty Serious shop.

New from Pretty Serious: New Daphne's Party Shades and Returning Favorites

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Hi everyone! Today I have 2 new polishes from Pretty Serious Cosmetics to share with you and one returning favorite! Pretty Serious's mascot Daphne has been at it again and their are two brand new additions to her party collection, and they couldn't be more different! Let's take a look at these glittery creations!

Pretty Serious Cosmetics The Museum of Naileontology Part 2

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Hi everyone! Today I have 3 new additions to Pretty Serious' The Museum of Naileontology Collection to share with you! As I discussed with the first set of polishes in this collection, these are all inspired by vintage polishes that are long discontinued and I really think that it is SO COOL that Kaz is using her passion for vintage polish to create these amazing polishes! These are available now for purchase in the Pretty Serious Cosmetics shop.

Pretty Serious Cosmetics Stop Collaborate and Listen Part 2

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Hi everyone! Today I have swatches of the newest additions to Pretty Serious Cosmetics' Stop Collaborate and Listen line, which are collaboration polishes with some of their favorite bloggers. These three polishes couldn't be more different, but they are all truly stunning!

Pretty Serious Museum of Naileontology Collection

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Hi everyone! Today I have a new collection from Pretty Serious Cosmetics to share with you! For those of you who do not know, Kaz (aka the fabulous mind behind Pretty Serious) has a true passion for vintage nail polish. She has an extensive collection of older, hard-to-find polishes most polish lovers can only dream of and pine over when she posts gorgeous pictures on her blog Pretty Random. The Museum of Naileontology collection totally embraces both her passion for polish making and vintage polish, and I wanted to share with you the vision for this collection from their press release:

This collection is the brainchild of Kaz Harris, Owner of Pretty Serious and blogger at Pretty Random, a vintage nail blog. Pretty Serious has always been inspired by the brands that shook the nail world back in the 90’s with edgy never before seen shades and in your face marketing campaigns and our brand new Naileontology line is an extension of her obsession with all things discontinued! Kaz has dug deep into her stash of thousands and selected three of her favourite long gone shades to restyle with Pretty Serious flair, and we know you’ll find the results absolutely breathtaking! 

OPI DS Divine over Pretty Serious The Pink One

Hi everyone! I have been on the hunt for an eye-searing hot pink holo, and this weekend I got bored and tried to layer one to my liking. I always feel like the really holo pinks out there are just too silvery and muted for what I'm looking for. So here goes nothing!

For this mani, I layered 2 coats of OPI DS Divine (which I find a little muted on its own) over the searing bright pink of Pretty Serious The Pink One. I think the brightness would have shone through more at one coat of DS Divine, but it wasn't holo enough for me like that so I added another coat. It looked pretty bright in the sun especially. It was a pretty mani if nothing else, but still not fulfilling the lemming I have for a super bright pink. I want a pink holo bordering on neon. I got close, but my search is still on! I'm hoping my nail mail in the next few weeks might contain the perfect one (I'll keep you guys posted).

 

 

Here is Pretty Serious The Pink One alone. The camera just can't even capture how bright this one is. It is stunning and as I've said before, a must have for pink lovers!

Pretty Serious Cosmetics' polishes are available from their website as well as from several stockists internationally (full list here). 

Do you have any recommendations for an eye-searing pink holo for me? I have Nailnation 3000 Amazeballz and Darling Diva Polish Rooms on Fire on the way to me, so I'm hoping one of those will fit the bill. Thanks for looking everyone!!

Pretty Serious Naughty Night Shift Nurse

Hi everyone! Today I'm sharing Pretty Serious Naughty Night Shift Nurse with you. As I'm sure most of you know, this polish was created as custom for Kristy from The Polish Haven as a birthday gift last year and everyone went absolutely bananas over it when she posted pictures. Kaz of Pretty Serious was super awesome and made an extremely limited run of the polish (as ingredients were scarce/discontinued) and it sold out in minutes both times she restocked it (and drama ensued, etc.). I was so lucky to get my hands on it. And it is truly stunning! It has a multichrome shift from blue/purple/red with color shifting flakies. For this mani I used 2 coats over black. It is a super hard one to capture on camera properly. 

So thank you again to Kristy and Kaz for giving everyone a shot at grabbing this beauty! It rocks! Thanks for looking! 

Pretty Serious Daphne's Birthday Party

Hi everyone! Today is a very special day for Pretty Serious Cosmetics as they turn 1 today! Creator Kaz created a very special polish to commemorate the first birthday of Pretty Serious and their mascot Daphne called Daphne's Birthday Party. It is a multicolored mix of glitters in a clear base. I chose to do a jelly sandwich with it with one of the new L'Oreal jellies called Lilac Coolers. I did a thin, dabbed coat of Daphne's Birthday party sandwiched with the L'Oreal. The glitter is very dense and would probably be opaque in 2-3 coats, so I had to wipe the brush off a bit on the bottle and do a little dabbing to get the sparser look I was going for for the sandwich.

Congrats on a wonderful and successful year Pretty Serious!! Pretty Serious Cosmetics' polishes are available from their website as well as from Llarowe. Thanks for looking everyone!!

Pretty Serious Vicious Vampire

Hi everyone! Today I have a fab polish for you from Pretty Serious. Vicious Vampire is from their Halloween 2012 collection, and it is one that you have to see in real life to get the full effect of its beauty. It is a red jelly with small red glitter and flakies and glowing shimmer. This is 2 coats. It has a wonderful formula and is a must have for all of you red lovers out there.

Pretty Serious Polishes are available from their website as well as from Llarowe. And US ladies, fear not, even though Pretty Serious is an Australian Indie, the shipping is super reasonable when ordering direct from their website since Kaz has a US distributer. As always, thanks for looking!

Pretty Serious Liquid Leprechaun

WOW...that is all I have to say about this polish. It is amazing! I used 1 coat over New York Summer Hot Green for my mani, but it would have been opaque in 2 coats on its own. The holo glitter in it makes it just glow in the green jelly base. Instant indie top 20. This was from Pretty Serious's Halloween collection, but it I saved it for March because it is just PERFECT for St Patrick's Day.

Another green you must have...MUST! These polishes can be found on Pretty Serious's website as well as at Llarowe. 

Some Non-Christmas Mani Spam!

Well...maybe a few of them are red...but that's ok, right? ;)

First up is one I did a little while back. This is OPI Man of La Mancha over Pretty Serious Poltergeist Puddle. This was SO pretty! I loved it!

Here is Poltergeist Puddle on its own. This is one difficult polish to photograph. It wants to photograph more blue than it actually is...but it has an abundance of pink and blue shimmer in it. The first picture is probably the most color accurate...but it still isn't just right. 

Next is Cult Nails Annalicious. I have so many pretty reds that I can't resist wearing them during Christmas...though they don't represent any particular day of the Advent Calendar Challenge. 

Next up I happened to purchase Layla Ceramic Effect #52 (aka The Butterfly Effect) from Ulta when they put out the new displays. It is very dupey to Nfu-Oh 51, but the purple jelly base is a touch more opaque. This is 2 coats over Barry M Indigo.

This is Barry M Indigo on its own. It is just perfect! It is so vibrant. Hard to photograph accurately too...purples like this often are. 

Next up is Zoya Fei Fei. This one has so much pretty going on. So many different colored shimmers in the base. They are really hard to pick up in photographs, but they are beautiful in real life. 

Oooh and here is a fun one for you...what do you do when you forget to take pictures of your mani? Well you take silly iPhone shots of course! This is one of my absolute favorite red cremes, OPI Red Hot Ayers Rock. Well look at that...it is featured with my favorite beverage!

I was disappointed with this picture, but I did the mani and picture in a rush one day. This is in my top 20 and I wanted to get a new photo of it. This is OPI Diva of Geneva. It will always hold a special place in my heart. 

This polish just made it into my Indie top 20 by a hair. I wore it for the first time days before submissions were due and it stole my heart. This is Enchanted Polish Octopus Garden. I wore it for a few days because I couldn't make myself take it off. I discovered something else too...these polishes do not need black undies! When I reviewed the new Beatles polishes a few months back, I layered them all over black because I assumed they would be similar to the Ozotic Mish Mash polishes and pop over black. I was SO wrong. This is 2 coats, no undies. Color me impressed. I love these Beatles polishes even more now! I didn't have any sun so I didn't get any good pics of the holo in these, but it is there!

And last but not least is Darling Diva Polish Seriously Serious. This polish is also SO hard to photograph (are you sensing a theme in this post? LOL!). It is a micro green and purple holograhic glitter polish. This is 1 coat over black. In real life, it has an overall purple look with splashes of green. You barely see the black undies, but they make the purple and green pop. The black polish shows up in pictures more than it does in real life.

So...how did you enjoy that little spamfest? I figured you might need a little break from Christmas related stuff so I hope you liked it! Thanks for looking everyone!